Track 10 – “Photograph” – Behind the Song

“A picture is worth 1000 words: Write a 1000-word summary of the events pictured in this painting.” So read the caption (at least, as well as I can remember all these years later!) in my U.S. History book. We were studying the American Revolution, and the picture portrayed above the caption was of a painting that depicted the Boston Tea Party.

My first thought was that people I had never met (and would never meet) had taken part in that historic event, and although their actions had greatly affected me, my words would never have any impact on them. I then realized that was also true of photos in general–whether it is a loved one who is gone or even just away on a trip, all the words that photograph communicates are one-sided.

Eventually, I completed that history assignment, but not before I scribbled down:

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words,
But that’s a thousand words I can’t say to you.”